Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired the first meeting of his new council of ministers — with the message being quite clear that the focus of the government is on the last-mile delivery, keeping the principles of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya on mind with regard to helping and reaching out to the lowest strata in the society.
Sources told CNN-News18 that PM Modi reiterated the need to be disciplined and advised the council to reach office on time and begin work at 9:30am. This is, however, not the first time that the PM highlighted the need to be disciplined at work as he had raised the matter during several council meetings in the past.
PM Modi also advised his ministers to focus on the use of technology and take special interest in knowing how presentations are made and how they should reflect the government’s intentions, sources said.
Talking about the issue of 12 ministers being dropped from the Union cabinet yesterday, the Prime Minister clarified that it is not that they were incompetent or lacked ability, but at this point, the agenda of the government is to ensure last-mile delivery, and for that purpose, the government needed fresh energy.
He also asked the ministers to go and meet their predecessors to learn from their experiences.
The Prime Minister also again highlighted to his council the need to stay away from unnecessary media focus and let the work do all the talking. He further emphasised on the need to focus on completing projects that have been announced on a ‘mission mode’.
Pandemic Not Over Yet
The PM also stressed on the coronavirus situation, saying that there’s no room for carelessness or complacency. “We all have been seeing pictures and videos of crowded places and people roaming about without masks or (following) social distance. This is not a pleasant sight and it should instil a sense of fear in us,” sources quoted PM Modi as saying.
The Prime Minister said that powered by our coronavirus warriors and frontline workers, India’s fight against the global pandemic is underway with full vigour. “We are steadily vaccinating substantial numbers of our nation’s population. Testing is also consistently high,” he said, adding that in such a time, “there should be no space for carelessness or complacency”.
“A single mistake would have far-reaching impacts and weaken the fight to overcome Covid,” the PM added.
He said that with the second wave showing signs of receding, people may want to step out. “However, everyone must remember, the threat of Covid-19 is far from over. Many other nations are seeing surges in infections. The virus is also mutating,” he added.
“As ministers, our aim should not be to instil fear, but to request people to keep taking all possible precautions so that we are able to move beyond this pandemic in the times to come,” the PM said, expressing concern at the persistently high number of cases being reported from Maharashtra and Kerala.
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